Aquafortis is dilute nitric acid. It is a strong oxidizing agent and attacks sugars and cellulose in wood, partially turning them black. It also turns fingers bright yellow, possibly useful for performances in low-contrast environments.
Potash is potassium hydroxide, a strong base which will remove flesh from unwanted body parts. A dilute solution of it can be made by mixing wood ash with water and filtering out the bits. I've never heard of it being used for staining wood, but I would suggest that it would be a bad idea to soak wood in it as it will seriously affect the strength. Also, don't get it in contact with aluminum as it makes hydrogen . (That was the method used to fill the Hindenburg, and look where that got them.) Marcus Jon Murphy wrote: >I don't remember the nitric versus the hydocholric acid (although I do >remember my hands turning brown from pure nitric acid). But I do remember >that a fine furniture man, Mario Lauria, used a dilute mix of Potash - which >I think would make a nitric acid - to turn the wood without stain. We made a >bartop of Mahogany (white, in the natural state) and turned it into a fine >deep reddish with the Potash (and it wouldn't burn with cigarettes, as there >was no stain to burn). Hope this helps. > >Best, Jon > > > > > >>Is nitric or hydrochloric acid( I forgot which) which you wet the wood >> >> >with > > >>then apply heat and it turns the wood brown (or green if you are unlucky) >> >> >use > > >>dilute. I used on a rifle stock and by the time I was done it was too >> >> >dark. > > >>As I understand it it works on maple (sycamore to you UK folks) and reacts >> >> >with > > >>the sugar in the wood. >> >> > > > > > > -- //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // Marcus Merrin PhD. // EmptyAir Consulting // Linux/Unix-platform database and custom server technology // [EMAIL PROTECTED] |||||||| http://emptyair.com // (902)225-5188 (Mobile) |||||||||| (902)455-2284 (Office) /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
